Seattle Sounders FC and the Puget Sound soccer scene

Archives: May 2012

May31st

Fox Soccer has announced that it will televise the fourth-round U.S. Open Cup match between Cal FC and Sounders FC, live from Starfire Sports Stadium at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

No confirmation from the Sounders yet.

However, the club issued this announcement regarding tickets:

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. PT for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup fourth-round match between Seattle Sounders FC and Cal FC (U.S. Adult Soccer Association). The game will be played Tuesday, June 5 at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila. Kickoff is 7 p.m. PT.

May31st

After friendlies against three college teams and a W-League opener against an 0-3 Vancouver side, the Sounders Women faced the Colorado Rush, which came in unbeaten in three games, and unscored upon.

That changed at Starfire Sports Stadium, as the Sounders Women emerged with a 2-1 victory.

The Sounders — featuring U.S. national team veterans Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Stephanie Cox, Sydney Leroux, and Megan Rapinoe in the starting lineup — controlled the early minutes of the match. And so it was no surprise when they broke through in the 19th minute, as Megan Manthey scored, assisted by Leroux.

The Rush responded after falling behind for the first time this season. About two minutes later Lindsey Horan beat Solo from about 20 yards, but the shot hit the crossbar. A few minutes before halftime, forward Danica Evans forced Solo into an acrobatic save, tipping a ball into the crossbar.

The Sounders (2-0) padded their lead in the 49th minute when Veronica Perez drilled a free kick from about 23 yards.

However, Colorado (3-1) struck back in the 61st minute when Brittany Bock sent a sizzling shot off the crossbar, and Lindsey Horan headed in the rebound past Solo, who was drawn to the far post by the initial shot.

Sounders Women return to action at 7 p.m. Friday at Victoria. Their next home game is 7:30 p.m. Monday against the Colorado Rapids Women.

CATEGORIES:

POST INFO:

TAGS:

May31st

This was Sounders’ coach Sigi Schmid’s reaction today when asked about the Portland Timbers’ 1-0 home loss to Cal FC last night — a result that brings the amateur side to Tukwila on Tuesday to face the Sounders in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup.

“Obviously it was an interesting game,” Schmid said. “It shows what can happen. The game of soccer is cruel sometimes: You can completely dominate the game and not come out with a result. It’s happened to us a couple of times this season, I think, in league. And it happened to Portland. But those are all the experiences you end up going through. For us it’s good, because we get to play at home; don’t have to travel, and it’s always better to play at home.”

As for the opposition, Schmid said Cal FC — a member of the United States Adult Soccer Association — is an amateur side, but using high-level players that have been on the cusp of MLS. Along the way to the fourth round, they not only beat the MLS Timbers, but also the PDL champion Kitsap Pumas and the USL Pro runners-up Wilmington Hammerheads.

“It’s not a Sunday morning pub team,” Schmid said. “It’s not a bunch of guys who roll out of the bar and walk out onto the field to play. These are all guys who still see soccer in their future. Who Read more »

CATEGORIES:

POST INFO:

TAGS:

May31st

D.C. United midfielder Dwayne De Rosario has been voted the MLS Player of the Month for May by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR).

De Rosario recorded four goals and two assists over six matches in May, guiding D.C. United to a 4-2-0 record in that span and first place in the Eastern Conference. The reigning league MVP has tallied five goals this season and a league-leading eight assists.

The Canadian international opened the month with a strong performance against San Jose, tallying a goal and two assists in the 5-3 road defeat on May 2. De Rosario’s second goal of the month came on May 16 in a 2-0 win against Colorado and he scored two more three days later against Toronto FC.

He has earned the honor twice before, most recently in August 2011 and also in October 2005.

De Rosario edged out San Jose Earthquakes forward Alan Gordon for the honor by a count of eight votes to six. Columbus’ Andy Gruenebaum, Seattle Sounders FC’s Fredy Montero, and New York Red Bulls’ Kenny Cooper and Ryan Meara also received votes.

POST INFO:

TAGS:

May31st

Last season, coach Sigi Schmid loosened things up at Sounders training with a game of softball. Today: dodgeball.

He explains:

“We’ve talked about it, and we’ve said it’s been a long season and we need to incorporate some things for our team — just have some fun sometimes. It’s something that we sort of concocted about three or four days ago. And (assistant coach Ezra Henedrickson) said, ‘Yeah, but we need to do something for our preparation for our reserve game.’ … The reserve game doesn’t matter to me, what matters for me is the following Tuesday.”

(What comes the following Tuesday, of course, is the fourth-round U.S. Open Cup match against Cal FC at Starfire. But more on that later. Now, more from Schmid:)Read more »

CATEGORIES:

POST INFO:

TAGS:

May31st

The Sounders will train around midday, so I should be back in the early afternoon with more information on them and their coming U.S. Open Cup fourth-round match against Cal FC, the amateur side that improbably won at Portland last night. (Highlights above, Oregonian’s shellshocked account here.)

However, it’s already obvious that this will be an Open Cup match unlike any other in the Sounders (unbeaten) history in the tournament. Here is a full account from TheCup website. And blog commenter Derek Young explains why nicely below:

Cal FC is an amateur club playing at the USASA level. Basically they’re a very good beer league team. This one happens to be former pros and guys that missed USL signings put together by Wynalda, but they’ve only played together for about two months and are barely able to practice once a week. Portland had a ton of shots, including a missed PK, but their keeper (who played with Kitsap last year) was able to handle it or they sailed high.

So now we’ll play this Cal FC club next week. The thing is, I’m not sure if they can afford to get up here. They were wearing kinda thrown together kits because MLS refused to allow them to wear the Fire handmedowns they had planned to use.

CATEGORIES:

POST INFO:

TAGS:

May30th

Here’s what Sounders coach Sigi Schmid had to say tonight after his club’s 5-1 win over Atlanta to open play in the U.S. Open Cup:

Opening: It’s always a lot more fun when you score goals. It makes this a lot easier. Getting the goal early in the second half helped us. And then the response after their goal – Caskey’s response right away – was what I think really finished the game off. And then after that I think we were a little bit unlucky not to get more. Their keeper came up with some big saves. Cato hits …

Blog search

Search for:

About

Don Ruiz has been covering the Seattle Sounders FC since their inception. Here he provides updates on news, views and developments of the South Sound soccer scene. Don also coordinates the UW Huskies Insider blog.